1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to reinforced concrete floor structures, and more particularly to reinforced concrete floor structures incorporating an underfloor wire distributing system.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Concrete-framed buildings, particularly those which are cast-in-situ, utilizing wire distributing raceway systems are known. Such systems incorporate single cell ducts or multi-celled units embedded in the concrete floor slabs, to distribute the wiring of various services, such as, power, telephone and computer, to each office building workstation. See for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,453,791 (FORK), 3,751,567 (KLINKMAN ET AL), 4,030,259 (MECKLER), and 4,194,322 (FORK). The multi-celled units (also known as cellular flooring units) and the ducts (also called underfloor ducts) are non-structural elements, that is, they do not assist in carrying vertical loads.
The use of single skin profiled metal units as a support structure for the reinforced concrete layer is know. See, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,849,957 (BASTGEN). Such support structures do not provide for the distribution of electrical wiring.
Other methods of providing a wire distributing function in concrete-framed buildings are either uneconomical or present structural problems. For example, an access or pedestal floor arrangement performs no role other than to create a wiring plenum above the floor slab. The access or pedestal floor is an expensive system requiring extra building height. Poke through wiring systems and other ceiling plenum systems have limited capacity and require core drilling through the concrete slab to access the wiring from the ceiling plenum below the slab.